Pablopicasso, somehow I hadn't seen your post when I wrote mine. What you said is perfect. I had read that Bowie had taken up soul music, so I wasn't that surprised when I first heard "Young Americans". My first impression was: this song is great, but this is not "my" David Bowie.

It is amazing that most people would immediately say that the longest gap between albums is the Scary monsters/Let's dance, when in fact it is the fourth longest. That was quite a suprise.The gap between Tonight and NLMD was quite productive with a number of one-off soundtrack songs and of course the Labyrinth soundtrack album. There were also singles released between SM and LD. What is really amazing is the long gap between Earthling and hours, it didn't feel as long as that, and there was no activity at all in between them either. At least between hours and Heathen he did the concerts in 2000 which spawned the BBC theatre concert album and the promise of Toy.

What is really amazing is the long gap between Earthling and hours, it didn't feel as long as that, and there was no activity at all in between them either.

He was still touring the album almost a year after it came out, they were releasing singles from it for most of the year (I'm Afraid Of Americans was on the Billboard charts a full year after the album came out), and there was the promise of a live Earthling album, plus he was still talking about releasing 2. Contamination. Add in the fact that he did a few films, recorded with Placebo (and appeared at the Brits with them), launched Bowienet, ran the "Help me write a song" contest, recorded Safe In This Skylife for the Rugrats soundtrack and Mother for the Lennon tribute, and there was plenty of stuff to talk about and hold the fans' interest (especially the online ones). So for me the wait between Earthling and Hours didn't feel as long as the one between Hours and Heathen, where there was much less to talk about.

One thing that also just occurred to me as I typed this post is that in the late 90s, online fans spoke much more about specific songs from the most recent albums. I realised this when I typed IAOA, then went back and changed it to "I'm Afraid Of Americans" realising that not everyone would understand the acronym. Whereas back in 1998, nobody ever typed out the full name of songs, because they were the main thing fans discussed so the shorthand was understood by all. Bowie's career still felt current and vibrant, and there was much less talk of old albums and no need for Survivor games. By contrast, now feels more like semi-retirement.

Slan libh,

Dara

Rachel: My Dad used to look like Robbie WilliamsFiona: When was this? His last life?